Friday, September 29, 2017

Back in July, CB3's Transportation, Public Safety & Environment Committee asked for input from residents about the frequency and reliability of the M14A bus.

Sen. Daniel Squadron's office had also made requests for improved M14A service — specifically the frequency of the buses.

On Tuesday night, the full Community Board adopted a resolution documenting the M14A's dismal service and called on the MTA to take "swift remedial action."

Here's part of the media advisory via the EVG inbox...

The CB3 resolution builds on more than a decade of community demands for improved M14A bus service.

“In response to past calls for better M14A bus service, the MTA has regularly taken the position that the M14A route is operating just fine. Our community knows full well that is not the case,” said Chad Marlow, chair of CB3’s Transportation, Public Safety & Environment Committee.

Marlow added, “the goal of our resolution is to document the shortcomings of the M14A bus service in extensive detail and to request corrective measures be swiftly taken. It is time to stop engaging in a false debate over whether problems on the line exist. Our resolution will hopefully and at long last put that debate to rest so we can get down to fixing the problems.”

The CB3 resolution points out that many of the MTA’s assumptions about the M14A’s adequacy are based on faulty data. For example, because young students do not swipe MetroCards when boarding busses, they are not counted by the MTA as passengers.

Likewise, when M14A passengers give up waiting for a bus and take the M14D bus instead, as they frequently do despite the long walks that await them at their destinations, they are counted as M14D passengers. CB3’s resolution points out that the M14A’s poor service has the greatest impact on local school children, elderly residents, and persons trying to get to and from work.

In addition to requesting services changes to improve the frequency and reliability of buses on the M14A route, CB3 also requested the MTA appear before its Transportation, Public Safety & Environment Committee to discuss why disparities exist between the community’s and MTA’s analysis of the route.

You can find the full resolution (PDF) at the CB3 website here. (It starts on the second page.)

10 comments:

The M14A is a disgrace, and I submit that the M9 should be brought back to being an Avenue B bus, as it was in the 60s and probably before. (It was originally a Red and Tan bus that became part of the MTA.)

Wait, 14th Street has a crosstown bus? Do you know how many times I have walked all the way crosstown and never had a single bus pass me? And all this time I thought those people standing at all those empty bus stops were just tired from walking. Thanks for the heads up.

it's funny how everyone's mileage may vary. i rely on the M14A daily and it rarely disappoints, compared to other crosstown routes. what always amazes me is how much higher the demand is for the M14D, seems like almost 3x as busy.

Not just the M14 unfortunately. Bus service and route cuts throughout Manhattan especially since 2010.

Incredible that the MTA depends on data that does not include significant context like children and student users who do not swipe or people who give up. And how does the MTA reflect bus usage when buses are rerouted due to street fairs and parades?There are street fairs nearly every weekend - not even possible to find a bus when rerouted.

Another worrisome issue is the increasingly affluent young residents who are not interested in or support bus transit issues (they are Uber bicycle subway users)

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